This photo from around 1900 is Christina Brown, (nee Braid), the wife of Archibald Brown of Boathouse. She’s standing outside her Uddingston shop.

All fruit grown at Boathouse, Blantyre e.g, Apples, Pears, Plums and various Berry fruits were stocked in this shop along with goods imported from Holland, wooden shoes, bulbs etc. Most likely, there were flowers also from Boathouse.

When Christina died in 1917, Andrew (Ford) who married into the Brown family, took over the shops and put in a manager. Archie’s girls had been running the shop following their parents deaths..

The Brown’s shops were located at 83 Main Street, Union Buildings, Uddingston, Baillieston was c/o Stark 110 Main Street, and the third was in Bothwell indicating even then that Boathouse was perhaps more aligned and focused on selling on the other side of the river, rather than taking to Glasgow Road, the retail centre of Blantyre.